Smoking is more harmful to the body than one may think. It causes numerous diseases and damage to health and the body. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States.

A shocking 480,000 people die from smoking every year. Smoking causes about 90 percent of all lung cancer deaths in both men and women. Smoking puts one at an even bigger risk for diseases that affect the heart and blood vessels, in addition to causing cancer in the stomach, lung, kidney, liver, esophagus and bladder.

Smoking’s toll is evident in yet another Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistic: if smoking was nonexistent, one in three cancer deaths in the United States would not occur.

Cigarette buds are not only the root of numerous cancers, but potential birth defects.  If a woman smokes, it will be harder for that woman to become pregnant and also negatively affect the baby’s health and wellbeing. Smoking increases risks for low birth weight, early delivery, stillbirth and sudden infant death syndrome.

One Xavier sophomore, AdeJope Adaralegbe, does not agree with smoking and recognizes the consequences of it. “I really do think that smoking ruins you, and some people can never quit. There are alternatives to cigarettes, but the alternatives are still basically smoking because they use the nicotine inside of cigarettes. For instance, vaping is still harmful. I also think that cigarettes cause cancer and greatly increase the risk of cancer.”

Adaralegbe sees how some people become so addicted to smoking that quitting seems impossible. If some people would make more of an effort to stop smoking, then their health would improve tremendously, and their lives would improve overall.

For more information on how to quit smoking, visit https://ashline.org/quitting/ready-to-quit-smoking. Despite its difficulties, quitting is possible, and there are many resources willing to help make this feat a reality.